Afganistan

This is the first I've mentioned it, but Hubby has been offered a position in Afganistan. It's a year contract, but we've decided that, if he goes, the most we could do is 6 months. The pay is 6 figures, even for the 6 month stint. Boy is that a lot of money. I mean, there is a lot we could get done with that. We could get all of our non-mortgage debt paid off, pay a significant amount on our mortgage, and still be able to travel to Europe. He would get 2 months paid vacation (taken 1 month at a time) while he's there, so we could go to Europe as a family twice. It's awfully tempting.

Hubby has been regretting not doing enough for the war. He's a member of our state guard (the Ohio Military Reserve), which is kind of like the junior National Guard. They rarely leave the state and mostly provide back-up for the NG units that are called up, as well as funeral honors and chaplaincy support. He joined that because he never had a good chance to join the military. He graduated college just after Desert Storm, and they were turning away most applicants then, trying to demobilize. Then there were the Clinton years, with more military down-sizing and not much opportunity. At this point he's just too old. They keep raising the age they'll waiver you in at, but he just keeps getting older as well, so never the twain shall meet.

Going to Afganistan would be a way for him to actually do something for the war effort. Also, the project he would be going in under is to teach Afganis how to do business in the global market, especially ethics, he would be doing something that would directly benefit the people there while supporting the war and helping to stabilize the region. Very win-win. He would also have the added benefit of the personal growth that comes from living in a very foreign place under challenging circumstances.

Of course there's that whole death thing. Afganistan is a lot safer than, say, Iraq, and he would be going in with experienced people that he is used to working militarily with, so it's not as big a concern as it might be. But, it's still there. Also, that leaves me dealing with the kids on my own for two months at a stretch. I don't know if I could do that. I guess it would be a bit of personal growth for me as well. Not to mention that I would just plain miss him. The longest we've ever been apart is 3 weeks, and that was B. C. (before children).

His current contract is up in about a month and a half, so we need to make a decision soon. We're just not sure what to do.